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By Maduka Nweke, [email protected]
The Federal Government recently announced that a comprehensive maintenance work would commence in federal highway bridges nationwide.
During a tour of the Apagbon bridge where fire outbreak damaged the bridge and other under bridges, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said that the bridges would be given a facelift noting that fire detaches fabrics that hold cement together and also helps to melt iron as could be seen under Apagbon bridges.
At routine checks, the minister noticed that illegal occupants have turned the under bridges as workshops adding that what happened in Apagbon could be repeated if not checked and avoided on time. He assured bystanders that he was not creating panic rather create awareness for the public to take precautions. The Minister noted that the measures Federal Government intends to take should inconvenience members of the public but stressed that it was aimed to correct defects and give the public the safety they desire.
“I can tell you, a lot of joints would be changed to give the bridges the strength that would enable them carry the loads on them. Priority will be given from extremely bad areas to very bad areas. We shall have interface with Contractors, LGAs, Truck Drivers and other publics to reach agreement on the modality to be used. I will need the support of every one for the job to be successful.
While fielding questions from the Press, the Director, Highways, Bridges and Design, Mr Oluropo Oyetade said, “I was about to enter a meeting concerning the Third Mainland Bridge before I was hurriedly ordered by the Honourable Minister to come here to give this directive and mandate that he has given to me, to announce that the area (Apongbon Bridge fire) should be cordoned off, which we have done.
“And that the inspection of the defects caused by this inferno shall be taken immediately the place cools down. But the most important that I must deliver here is that, all the occupants under our bridges particularly in Lagos, we are giving them seven days to pack away. The illegal occupiers will be given up to June nine to vacate the under bridges adding that after the ultimatum they shall be forcefully evicted and pay for whatever item helped them to be removed from the site.
PropertyMart checks revealed that the fire at the Apagbon bridge had a far reaching effects on the bridge. Oyetade also condemned the activities of illegal sand dredgers that removed the soil under the Third Mainland Bridge, to jeopardise the safety of the infrastructure. He said that three companies had been arrested in connection with the development and would be prosecuted accordingly.
Speaking at the stakeholders’ meeting at the Ministry of Works and Housing at Ijora, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Frederick Oladeinde, said his ministry would issue a release on diversion alternatives to the public after consultations, assessing and exploring the best options with regards to diversion alternatives during the maintenance works to cushion the effects of redirection..
Oladeinde said that the Apongbon Bridge fire would negatively impact traffic, adding that a combined team of traffic regulatory agencies were on ground to manage a traffic architecture to be drawn to reduce the hardship on road users.
